1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for capturing images of negotiable instruments such as checks used for settling transactions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Checks and other such negotiable instruments are widely used to settle commercial transactions and to pay for purchases in stores and restaurants. This payment process is described below using checks by way of example. An account number and related information is generally printed on the face of a check as magnetic ink character data (MICR) enabling the account information to be read automatically for verification with the financial institution.
When a check is used for payment in a retail store, for example, the payee, date, and amount are printed on the face of the check after the check is verified, and the verification number, date, amount, and other endorsement information is automatically printed on the back of the check using a printer. After the store has finished processing the check, the check is typically delivered to the bank or other financial institution where the final payment process (check clearing) is completed. Electronic payment has been promoted in recent years as a way to increase the efficiency of the payment process by electronically sending the transaction data and images of the printed front and back of the check to the financial institution.
Checks, however, normally have a background pattern on the front of the check, and if the check image is captured at low resolution it can be difficult to read the printed text information, including the account number, payee, date, and amount. If the scanned images are captured at high resolution or color images are captured, however, the time required for the scanning process is undesirably long. High resolution and color also greatly increase the size of the image data, making large capacity, high speed storage devices necessary for storing the image data and requiring more time to transmit the scanned image data to the financial institution.